As I just ordered an yellow (of course!) Adventure Island, I noticed that the colour was not named Golden Papaya. It is named Island Breeze or just Breeze, (not sure about that).

I asked my local dealer about it and she said that the plastic material now was a bit harder and little more glossy than before. And therefore Hobie changed the name. Maybe this was just bulls--t but I will be able to compare my 2010 Adventure Kayak with the 2012 AI when delivered.

And of course Yellow (whatever named) will be faster, safer and more beautiful, this is common knowledge not understood by some people. There is other colours for them.

hi leelanauX, ive got the yellow ai and bar a few scratches below its still like new. i cut the white bubble wrap packaging to cover and fold over the edges and using a few bungees, store it under that. as its not exposed to dirt and sunshine, it really still looks good.

Regardless of color, you should protect the hull from solar UV. I use Hobie's UV protectant. It is fairly expensive, but being a thin liquid, not much is needed to cover the whole TI. If you leave your Hobie sit out without a sun shade...the hulls really need to have a protectant coating. The UV liquid also seems to give a temporary protection against dirt, but not for very long. I use a good boat wax on the smooth portions of the hulls. However, waxing the non-skid parts makes them more slippery and it is very hard to wipe off the haze on the non-skid. I use the Hobie UV on the non-skid; no slippery hazy residue.

I think you are all mistaken when it comes to speed. The Dune boats have proven that in this year's Everglades Challenge. The #3 & #4 boats to finish were Hobie Dunes !!! And they were only beaten by two large catamarans. Yellow was #8. The Reds did not finish.

Great shot of you fellows. In case people don't know, left to right are Paul Kral (aka Dogslife), Josh Morgan (aka Tidetraveller) and Brian Tindell (AhMaChamee). As Dogs said, they finished 3,4 & 8 in this year's Everglades Challenge. This year's EC is acknowledged to have been the most difficult conditions of any EC to date. I think they were the only AIs entered. There were 4 TIs, all of which did not finish because of equipment failures (2) or physical/mental fatigue (2).

If I were a betting person, I would put my money on theses fellows no matter what color AI they were using.

Keith

_________________"Don't kid yourselves, sharks are everywhere in the Everglades" Chekika

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

NOHUHU may have to correct me on this one, but I'm pretty sure the faster red ones also get all the girls. Seeing those three guys standing alone after doing so well in that race makes me wonder. Sure they won an endurance race and all... but....